


Realist

by Mersheeple



Series: Hearts&Cauldrons Prompts [49]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Severus Snape Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:20:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25628854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mersheeple/pseuds/Mersheeple
Summary: He was a a realist. Life sucks and then you die. That's how it all works right?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Series: Hearts&Cauldrons Prompts [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805746
Comments: 18
Kudos: 108





	Realist

**Author's Note:**

  * For [turtle_wexler](https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtle_wexler/gifts).



> Prompt - "Don't make me an optimist, you will ruin my life." - Fleabag
> 
> Turtle, thank you for the prompt. I had this idea and ran with it. It didn't quite work out the way I thought it would...lol

He was a proud realist. Life was shit and then you died. That was the reality of the situation. Somewhere along the line, one might be lucky enough to pay taxes. But in general, life was shit and he was quite comfortable with that notion.

He knew he was going to die. The realist in him had expected it and he was ok with that. He had everything in order. He had given Potter his memories, a hand picked selection that showed him in the best possible light. None of it was a lie, of course, but the original reasons for joining the Death Eaters and the somewhat unsavoury tasks he had performed, were conspicuous in their absence.

He hadn’t expected to die at the hands of the snake. Fangs. Whatever. He had thought that the Megalomaniac bastard would want that pleasure himself. Ah well, chalk one up to the follies of youth he supposed.

Except then she had turned up. Hermione Granger, all fight and fire and fearlessness, and she had saved him. She had poured liquids down his throat and pressed her fingers to his skin and sealed the bites, apologising for the scars.

But he was a realist. He knew he would always be ugly so what did a few extra scars matter? She tutted at him when he said that, his voice scratchy and broken. He would have reprimanded her for her cheek but he quite liked that she seemed to be positive. And then he slipped into unconscious and half-laughed at himself as he did. One positive reaction from a pretty girl and his mind told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t being much of a realist right now.

He came around in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts. He lifted his hand to his throat and found that they hadn’t put him in handcuffs. He was expecting to be arrested. He was a realist after all. She told him that Harry had fought against it. Something about not being able to win the War without him. 

Whatever it was, he only had a moment to be pleased about it before he felt an agony of pain burning through his arm. Oh, so _this_ was how he died. Still the Megalomaniac’s work then. He slipped into unconsciousness with a smile on his lips. He wouldn’t really survive the War. He was a realist after all.

He awoke again, with her asleep in the chair beside his bed, and both arms still, bewilderingly, attached. He wanted to ask how it was possible. He wanted to know how many had died for this to work. He wanted…but he was a realist so instead he just assumed he had a stay of execution.

She told him anyway, without him asking. She had, somehow, managed to save him herself. He was the first that had reacted to the pain, before any other Death Eaters. She assumed it was because the dead bodies were supposed to feel it first and potentially become Inferi and he had, technically, been dead for a few minutes before she had brought him back. She had stopped the pain with her Patronus. It sounded like madness but she shrugged like it meant nothing. Maybe, to her, it meant nothing. But for him it meant a lot. And he felt he owed her. As a realist, he knew that people didn’t do anything for free.

She had asked if he would consent to offering her an Apprenticeship. He had laughed and said that of course he would, knowing full well that he would no longer have a job and therefore would not be able to take on an Apprentice. He was a realist and he knew how despised he was.

Minerva asked him to stay on. Even asked if he wanted to remain Headmaster. He agreed to the first, declined the second. He would attempt to spend as much time as he could outside of the Headmaster’s office. There were no positive memories there for him. He took the Potions position again. And she took the Apprenticeship. For as long as she could last anyway. He was a realist so he knew she would leave long before her Apprenticeship was over. It was to be expected with his personality.

She stayed. She completed her Mastery with him and then asked Minerva for a full time Apprenticeship with her. Minerva suggested she stay longer, taking Apprenticeships in as many subjects as she wanted to and filling in for staff whenever they needed her. She agreed on one condition. That she would be able to keep her current chambers. Right next to his.

It didn’t mean anything of course. It just made it easier than if she had to move all her things all over the castle. Sure, she spent time talking to him, even after she became a Master in her own right. It still didn’t mean anything. He was a realist after all.

She got her second Mastery, Transfiguration, and her third, Charms, within a few years. She still chose not to change her chambers. Oh, but she would when she fell in love and moved away. He was a realist and he knew she was too beautiful _not_ to fall in love and marry and have everything she wanted in life. He wanted that for her. He would have liked it for himself but…well, he was a realist.

She wasn’t really asking him for a date when she suggested they went to the Ministry Ball together. He was more realistic than that. Except she looped her arm in his and stood by his side all night. It hurt to know that this wasn’t going to last past tonight. But he had to be realistic. There would be no repeat performance. He knew that. He was a realist after all.

She kissed him at the end of the night. Properly kissed him. And he stared at her, wondering when she would start laughing, when she would start telling him it was all a joke, when she would tell him to ‘get real’…he was a realist after all.

“Severus? I want this. I’ve wanted it for a long time. Please, don’t turn me away.” She looked at him then and his heart soared. But he felt he had to warn her. He was a realist after all.

“Don’t make me an optimist, you will ruin my life.” He kissed her then and she smiled against his lips, pulling back to smile at him properly, taking his hand and dragging him into her room.

“I only want to make you a realist Severus. Time to realise you deserve good things too.” She spoke softly, leaning into him and he kissed her, knowing that she might be right. If she said he deserved good things, maybe she was right. He wasn’t sure, but maybe he could start believing in the good things too.

He was a realist, after all.


End file.
